Assembling portions of hollow articles



Feb. 15, 1938. A. F. REILLY 2,103,209

ASSEMBLING PORTIONS OF HOLLOW ARTICLES Filed Sept. 16, 19s? PatentedFeb. 15, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CLES Alfred F. Reilly, NorthAttleboro, Mass, assignor to Evans Case Company,

Mass., a corporation North Attleboro. of Massachusetts ApplicationSeptember 16, 1937, Serial No. 164,248

3 Claims.

The invention, while not entirely confined thereto, relates principallyto hollow articles of sheet metal ware and has especially to do withsuch articles as are composed of two or more 5 portions each of which ispreformed to engage and be attached to other portions to form thecomplete hollow article. Such articles may not be entirely enclosed butmay haveone or more ends or sides, etc., open.

Such articles frequently are ornamental and are ornamented. It is notuncommon to preform a section of such an article and deform the section,or impress or imprint in or upon it ornamental matter which may appearin the finished article. The sections or portions of such articles arecarefully designed in advance so that when the portions are assembledproper parts of them may be in register with proper parts of otherportions of the articles so as to produce a proper general ornamentalappearance. In many such articles it is desirable that the joint betweenthe portions beinconspicuous and to this end such joints are frequentlymade smooth. This may be accomplished by having the edges of the Joiningpieces structurally abut each other. It is substantially essential,therefore, that when the portions are assembled they be placed in properrelative position to each other and rigidly held there untilthey arefinally fastened together. For such purpose clamps have been employed tohold the portions together in proper assembled position while they arebeing permanently fastened together or until they are permanentlyfastened together. Likewise wires or other devices have been wrappedaround the assembled devices to temporarily hold the assembled portionsin proper position until and during their permanent fastening together.These and other holding methods are unsatisfactory. They cannot alwayshold the loose portions in proper assembled position. Any slippage tendsto destroy the usefulness of the entire article or cause re-adjustmentor reconstruction. The form or ornamentation of individual portions andso of the whole may be marred or interfered with by the holding means orby slippage of the portions in the holding means.

A purpose of the present invention is to avoid these difliculties byproviding means for rigidly and surely holding assembled the individualportions of such articles by means which, while sure and certain againstslippage at the same time do not deform the individual portions or theentire article and do not mar the ornamentation whether it may besurface ornamentation or raised ornamentation. To this end the inventionincludes providing extending lugs on the individual portions which lugsare in addition to the material of the portions which it is intendedshall remain in the finished article. The lugs may be so fastened andpositioned on the various portions that when the portions are broughttogether in proper register lugs on adjacent portions will be in contactwith each other. The individual portions themselves having been broughttogether and placed in the positions they are to retain in the finishedarticle the engaging lugs may be rigidly fastened together by anyappropriate means. The lugs thus hold the portions in position and theportions will not get out of position during handling, storing or anymanipulation which may be necessary prior to or in connection withpermanently fastening together the edges of the portions.- For instancethis permanent fastening together may be a soldering of the edges andespecially when the face is irregular in form the assembled portions mayhave to be moved during the soldering operation. While the portions areheld together by rigid attachment of the lugs such movement will notdisplace the pieces or get them out of register. When the assembledportions have been fastened together the lugs themselves may be removedby clipping, cutting, grinding or any other suitable operation so thatthe seam between the individual portions is reduced to uniformity or thedesired condition to correspond with the contours of the article or itsornament. When necessary or desirable the opening if there be any leftin the seam by the removal of the lugs may be treated for closing orfastening together in the same way as the rest of the seams of thefinished article.

Means for fastening together the lugs may be employed which might beentirely unacceptable or unsatisfactory for fastening together the mainportions of the hollow article. Thus in many instances the material ofwhich the hollow article is made may be discolored or deteriorated bywelding or high heat. Under these conditions the contacting tabs or lugsmay be fastened together by spot welding or the like without marring ordeteriorating the portions of the article which are to remain in it. Nodiscoloration, marring, or deterioration which may take place in thelugs is material or disadvantageous as it disappears from the finishedarticle when the lugs themselves are removed.

In the accompanying drawing showing embodiments of the present inventionFigure 1 is a plan view of such a hollow article as the handle of abrush or mirror or the like showing lugs in place. Fig. 2 is atransverse vertical section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is atransverse vertical section similar to Fig. 2 but after the lugs havebeen removed. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a handle or the like madeup of three separate portions. Fig. 5 is a transverse, vertical sectionon the lines 5-5 of Fig. 4.

The main separate portions of which the assembled article is composedare marked A, B and C. Portion A may be provided with a suitable numberof lugs indicated as projecting from its sides. These lugs are marked a.The portion B may be provided with similar lugs projecting from itssides marked 22. The portion C may be provided with similar lugsprojecting from its sides marked c. When the portions are loose and inpreformed condition portion A may be placed against portion B in theposition they are to take in the finished article. Thus their edges maybe in contact and their joint or seam is more or less smooth. The lugs aand b are so positioned and arranged that when the portions A and B areso placed the lugs a will be in contact with corresponding lugs brespectively. The lugs a and b may then be rigidly fastened in thisassembled position by spot welding or any other suitable means. By thismeans the portions A and B are rigidly held in the position they are tooccupy in the finished article and the seams along their edges betweenthe lugs may be joined by any suitable means such as soldering, forinstance. When this has been accomplished and the joining means at theseams is set or permanent the lugs a and b may be removed by clipping,cutting, grinding or any other suitable process and the portions A and Bwill remain in their proper adjusted position for the final articledesired. The lugs a and b may be made of such size and placed in suchpositions that the seams left on the edges of the portions A and B whenthe lugs are removed may be inconspicuous and need no further treatment.When necessary, however, the seams left by the removal of the lugs maybe treated as has been treated the rest of the seam.

The invention obviously is not confined to devices made of two portionsonly but may be applied to articles made of any number of portions. Asan example in Figs. 3 and 4 an article made of three portions isillustrated. Here the portions A and B may be assembled as indicatedabove and held in position by the contacting lugs a and b. The portionsA and B may then be permanently fastened together and the contactinglugs a and b be removed. Either after such treatment or before the finaltreatment and while the lugs on A and B are in position and in contactwith each other there may be applied the third portion C. When thisportion, however, is

placed in the proper position to engage the edgesoftheportionsA,Btbehuscwillcontactthe lugs aandbproperlyplacedintheportionsA and B respectively. The contacting lugs c, a and thecontacting lugs c, b may be fastened together in any suitable manner andso the three portions of the device held rigidly in proper position fortreating the seams on the abutting edges of the individual portions A. Band C after which all the lugs a, b and 0 may be removed and theoperations continued if needed as indicated above.

It will be understood that after the portions are fastened in positionby the rigid attachment of the lugs a, b and 0 they may be handled evencarelessly without disturbing the proper and desired relation of theseveral portions. The exact location of the lugs is not material but thelugs will preferably be located at the most desirable pointsof thearticle to hold the portions in proper adjusted position. Thus it may bedesirable to place the lugs at corners or angles or it may be founddesirable for purposes of initial adjustment, intermediate holding, orfinal fastening to leave the corners or angles free of lugs and placethe lugs on smoother or more regular contours of the various portions.The selection of the location of the lugs forms no part of the presentinvention. 7 While the invention is of general application it may beespecially desirable in connection with hollow articles made of preciousmetals or semiprecious metals where the marring of an article or anirregularity in its joint may be an apecial disadvantage. I

The particular embodiments illustrated and described are not limitationson the invention which may be embodied in many different forms.

I claim as my invention:

1. Preparing adjacent parts of hollow articles for assembly comprisingproviding lugs at intervals on each part, placing the parts togetherwith abutting edges and registering lugs, fastening the lugs togethertohold the parts in adjusted position, fastening the abutting edges of thepieces. and removing the lugs.

2. Preparing adjacent parts of hollow articles for assembly comprisingproviding lugs on each part, placing the parts together with abuttingedges and registering lugs, spot welding the lugs together to hold theparts in adjusted position, soldering the abutting edges of the pieces,and removing the lugs.

3. Preparing adjacent parts of hollow articles for assembly comprisingproviding outwardly extending lugs on each part, placing the partstogether with abutting edges and lugs in contact with each other,fastening the lugs together to hold the parts in adjusted position,fastening the abutting edges of the pieces, and removing the lugs.

ALFRED F. REILLY.

